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Is there a list of warm and cool colours for each of the Winsor & Newton colour ranges?

The principles of colour mean that there can be no finite definition of warm and cool colours in the Winsor & Newton ranges. Defining warm and cool colours is very subjective as colour ‘bias’ is dependent on the colour it is next to. For example, Ultramarine Blue has a red shade and a green shade, green shade being slightly cooler. However, if you place Ultramarine Green shade next to Cerulean Blue, it is much redder and therefore warmer in tone.

The colour wheel is a good way of determining whether a certain colour leans toward warm or cool. In general, the closer to Red - the warmer the colour and the closer to Green - the cooler the colour. In colour relations, warm colours will appear nearer to you, where cool colours recede.

As warm and cool colour relations are relative, Winsor & Newton do not have any charts defining these colours. If selecting a base palette of warm or cool colours, a starting point could be to take the warmest and coolest elements of the three primary colours in the chosen Winsor & Newton colour range, but remember that this will change once you start putting colours together.

You may find the Munsell Colour Wheel useful as this will help you to visualise the warm and cool colours and provides information about hue, chroma and value. However please note that this is for guidance and artists often paint out their own colour wheels to ensure accuracy for painting.

Winsor & Newton also provide information on which are the primary colours for each colour range which are a good starting point for colour mixing:
Artists' Oil Colour, Winsor Oil Colour, Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour, Griffin Fast Drying Oil Colour, Artists' Oilbar, Artists' Acrylic Colour, Artists' Water Colour, Cotman Water Colour.

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